HEC 226: Child Development Jessica Garrison

Integrative Observation Paper 1: Infant/Toddler

Description of the Infant

The two year old toddler I am observing is my son. His name is Axel, he is a small boy for his age, and
hes only 33 inches tall, however his father and I are both short. He wears about 18 month in pants and a
2t in shirts. His physical DNA has given him mostly his dads genes. He has warm brown eyes, which are
actually dominant genes that prevail in all children even with blue eyed parents. He has light brown hair,
rosy cheeks and long eye lashes. Most of the time Axel is very irritable. He is a happy child; however I
would consider him at a low temperament depending on the situation and who is supervising him. He
seems frustrated when people cant understand what he wants. He repeatedly says mom to get my
attention and has a very specific agenda when it comes to his toys. Its hard for him to sit in one place to
long; even when hes eating he usually is walking around with it in his hand. In the morning its really
hard to get him to eat, he eats like a bird. Until about 3pm after his nap will he eat a decent amount of
food. He goes to sleep on a strict schedule. He goes down at 8 pm and wakes up around 7 am, then about
four or five hours later around 12 or 1pm he takes a nap for a couple hours. He has just started going to
preschool which has given me a lot of new insight about his sine its not our usual routine, it definitely
started as a strange situation.

Temperament and Behavior

According to Ericksons eight stages of psychological development (Cook & Cook, pg 11) he is in the
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt crisis, from table 1.2 on pg 12. He is entering the age when he starts
gaining his independence and learning discipline, therefore causing shame and doubt in himself. He
displays this by acting out, throwing tantrums, lying on the floor and rolling around, saying No to me
when I tell him he needs to do something. He cries for no reason in the car, not wanting to participate in
activities when hes tired and just wanting mommy to hold him. If it interests him he usually adapts easily
to places and holds my hand as we walk through, so I would say typically he has an easy
temperament(Cook & Cook, pg 195), until pressures arise on him or he becomes bored. In those moments
he has a slow to-warm-up temperament, For instance we just started going to preschool and he has
separation anxiety (Cook & Cook, pg 183) while Im dropping him off in the morning , throwing a fit for
a few minutes until hes distracted by something that he can play with. I work in the classroom right next
to his, so I dont know if this makes it easier or harder for him. My son has a secure attachment to me; he
has been with me throughout the first two years of his life everyday and doesnt ever want me to leave
him, however when he becomes distracted by something that interests him he can enjoy playing with
other children and participating in his class for the rest of the day, until he is reminded that he misses me.

Observation Setting
Our house is a place that he knows as home, every time we pull into the driveway he says Were
HOME! he knows thats where his toys are and I feel grateful knowing my son is intelligent and my
house can be his play place without me being too paranoid about what he does when Im not watching
him. This observation time frame is between 2pm and 3pm; he just got up from his nap. Hes in his
happiest most rested time of the day. There are trucks all over the house so of course he is drawn to one
after I change his diaper. He goes on to play, rolling his truck up the couch and downs and around. He
socializes with the cats and dog. I leave him to play and he comes to tell me hes hungry, as Im sitting
here writing my observation paper.

Physical Development: Component of development related to growth in size, strength and muscle
coordination (Cook & Cook, pg 3)
Axel is an active child, always playing with trucks around the house, climbing on furniture and dancing.
He comes to dance practice, where I teach, learning his own moves and improving his gross motor skills.
I would say that he was an early physical developer because he was walking perfectly by ten months old
and running by the time he was a year. His fine motor development skill are portrayed through his ability
to color, feed himself and put little hooks on his cars from his trucks to tow them around without any help
from an adult. The expectations for his age in development are not delayed. From our tools and videos we
watch weekly, brings up the idea of how functional play, pretend play, and fantasy play is so rich to
young children because it involves their peers. Playing is the work of learning. Using their motor abilities,
social and cognitive activities are practiced. There are different developmental opportunities throughout
our school day. As children get bigger and stronger new types of play become possible. They start looking
like younger adults. They start communicating like younger adults and they are more diverse in interests
and other opportunities.

Cognitive Development: component of development related to changes in how children perceive the
world, think, remember information, and communicate. (Cook & Cook, pg 3)
The past couple months Axel has really leaped into saying multiple words in a sentence; He says Grave
Digger a lot because its his favorite monster truck. His Microsystems surrounding his everyday
development has such a huge impact on his learning curve. Just in the past couple weeks since I started
writing this paper his vocabulary has grown so much, however his interest in monster trucks remains.
When I take him to the church daycare they do inform me that he conflicts with others however this
seems normal in the developmental landmarks (Cook & Cook, Pg 209) I tell Axel he is smart all the time,
he recognizes places like Goodwill, and will point them out, he also recognizes Taco bell, and the dollar
tree (Frequently visited places). Hes always looking out and visually aware, he spots airplanes in the
distance and busses driving close by, he loves hearing the siren of an emergency vehicle and always says
FIRETRUCK when he hears it. Axel knows when he has already gone to the bathroom in his diaper,
but hasnt yet mastered using the toilet. He will come up to me and say I need a new butt or I pooped
, which helps me know at least he is aware since potty training should start 18-24 months (Cook & Cook,
Pg 209). He is a sponge when it comes to mocking the things I say, which isnt always a good thing. And
I know he is manipulative when it comes to getting his way. Erickson says development doesnt stop
according to the video The Developing Person there are constant Gains and losses through life.

Social and Emotional Development: component of development related to changes in how children
interact with other people (family, peers, and playmates) and manage their emotions. (Cook & Cook, pg
3)
Sometimes I wonder if Axel has become too attached to me because he will cling to me when hes tired in
a social setting and wont follow along directions at all. The Nature of Love is a scientific method
experiment by Harry Harlow, about attachment issues that I can look deeper into on that issue. When it
comes to socializing with kids his own age he is delayed. He needs to learn to better share and
communicate with others. We have enrolled him in preschool so he can have that social aspect of
development because he has been glued at my hip his entire life. Children form attachments with their
fathers and other close caregivers when they spend significant time together (Cook & Cook,189)
especially when it comes to the social learning theory, he mimics his dads interests when it comes to car
stuff. From birth Axel has had a classic conditioning from his fathers side of the family with an interest
in cars. The World of Children says that Erickson believed if their parents neglect or mistreat them,
however, infants learn to mistrust and will tend to mistrust almost everyone they meet.(pg 11) This holds
true to Axels personality, represented through the way he loves and trusts everyone usually. For instance
we were at the Library the other day and an old man and his wife were walking by and Axel ran up and
grabbed his hand. They walked to our car together as the elderly wife told me hes a grandpa and he
loves children. I was confused, thinking my son was fine with holding this strangers hand, however I
conditioned him to be friendly to everyone and everything without thinking about stranger danger.
Brofenbrenners ecological model shows the aspects of interactive systems like immediate family,
community that affects the childs development. Such as the impact of culture on the childs development
and the mass media according to this model within a childs Microsystem. For instance his favorite show
is Blaze and the Monster Machines, which is a monster truck show, this theory is also expressed in the
video The Developing Person and helps us study, explain and predict by learning theories from
hypothesis then creating a direction for scientific observation. The direction Im going with this is that
there are so many angles that influence him to be into the things that interest him. Cars and Trucks are
important in our family. We watch a lot of car rehab shows and he sees his dad and grandpa working on
their cars and trucks a lot. On top of that he watches his cars and trucks cartoons, so the media has him
into it. He had a cars themed birthday and his bedroom is car themed, he even had a car bed frame. I love
being able to reflect on my own child and his development compared to what the book and videos said.
We need to provide our children with environments and resources to let them grow and be the best they
can be.
From the What Is Developmentally Appropriate Practice? By Daniel T. Willingham. He includes Paigets
theory of development and children in this stage according to his theory are beginning the preoperational
stage. This stage usually last from 2-7 years of age (Piaget, 1952). My son shows signs of being so
interested in one thing and I think it is due to this stage in his life where his mind is definitely one tracked.
Not only is he a male but he is in this preoperational stage that only allows him to focus on one thing at a
time. he makes this error because he focuses on one feature (Willingham, 2008) However I wouldnt
conclude that its his fault completely that he is drawn towards cars and truck . Willingham says
Mental concepts become more complex because the child can represent ideas via language. Children are
able to use mental symbolsfor example, they can pretend that one object is another in play. Still, their
ability to use these symbols in an organized way is not complete. One limitation is the tendency to focus
on just one aspect of a complex situation. (Willingham, 2008)
This explains why he has not had any interests in adding more to his mental pallet yet and feels most
comfortable with his one interest right now. Which is why he has started preschool, I want him to broaden
his cognitive abilities. I believe in the lifespan theory, we are all ever-changing in an expanding world,
our parents learned differently than we did and same goes for our children. Individuals have their own
path to follow and their own goals to reach!
Cook, G., & Cook, J. L. (2010). The World of children (Third edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc.

.Willingham, Daniel (2008) What Is Developmentally Appropriate Practice? Electronic Version, Web.
American Educator. 1, May 2017